Considered an eccentric in the traditional Korean literary world, Jung Young-moon's short stories have nonetheless won numerous readers both in Korea and abroad, most often drawing comparisons to Kafka. Adopting strange, warped, unstable characters and drawing heavily on the literature of the absurd, Jung's stories nonetheless do not wallow in darkness, despair, or negativity. Instead, we find a world in which the bizarre and terrifying are often put to comic use, even in direst of situations, and point toward a sort of redemption to be found precisely in the "weirdest" and most unsettling parts of life...
Novelist, short-story writer, translator, playwright, and teacher, Jung Young-moon was born in Hamyang, South Korea, in 1965. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in psychology. He made his literary debut in 1996 when his novel A Man Who Barely Exists. He has also translated more than forty English books into Korean. Novelist, short-story writer, translator, playwright, and teacher, Jung Young-moon was born in Hamyang, South Korea, in 1965. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in psychology. He made his literary debut in 1996 when his novel A Man Who Barely Exists. He has also translated more than forty English books into Korean. Kim Joo-Young was born in 1939, and graduated from the Sorabol Art College majoring in creative writing, and made his literary debut with Resting Stage, which won the 1971 New Writer's Award. A leading and popular exponent of documentary" fiction, set in meticulously researched historical periods, Kim has also served as the director of the Paradise Culture Foundation in Seoul since 2005."